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Big U.S. Solution Provider Expanding to Canada
ITWorld Canada 11.04.2009
While many Canadian solution providers have heard of Forsythe Solutions Group, Inc., based in the Chicago suburb of Skokie, Ill., not too many have realized that the large consultant and technology reselling powerhouse has actually been operating in Canada for quite some time now. |
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Harness RAID’s Power: Find The Best RAID Configuration For Your Data Center
Processor.com 10.09.2009
Increased reliability, redundancy, and higher performance for storage applications are among the benefits that the different RAID flavors offer to SMEs. But deciding which one of the many RAID levels best meets the needs of a particular application can introduce a set of complexities to address. It is important to realize that a RAID storage system “introduces a layer of abstraction,” says Scott Hirsch, a solutions architect at Forsythe Technology. |
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Disaster Recovery Testing: SMB vs. Enterprise
SearchStorageChannel.com 09.02.2009
Research on disaster recovery testing among end-user IT organizations shows that a pretty good chunk of those organizations are -- or at least say they are -- testing their DR plans on a regular basis. Mike Croy, author of "Are We Willing to Take That Risk?" and director of business continuity solutions for Forsythe Solutions, whose customers are mostly enterprise-level IT organizations, agreed with Toigo: "Whether you're large or small, testing is pretty important." At small companies, he said, testing is a challenge because of budgetary restrictions. |
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VMworld 2009: Storage Admins Grapple With Growing VMware Deployments
SearchStorage.com 09.02.2009
Storage administrators at VMworld 2009 this week say maintaining enterprise data storage efficiency and manageability while scaling growing VMware server virtualization environments remains a delicate task. Users looking to balance storage efficiency with server virtualization best practices were offered further suggestions in a later session on Tuesday by Forsythe storage architect and consultant Brian Peterson titled "Controlling the Storage Impact of Virtual Server Sprawl." |
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Bring A New Data Center Online
Processor 08.28.2009
Moving data center operations is a delicate matter. There are hundreds of ways it can go wrong. That’s why many companies are reluctant to move the company’s crown jewels. “What many believe to involve two men and a truck is actually a highly choreographed logistics event that is the culmination of business analysis and detailed planning,” says Fred Latala, director of Data Center services at Forsythe Technology. |
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Wall Street Beat: Red Hat, Oracle Cheer IT Investors
Network World (aslo InfoWorld and PCWorld) 06.25.2009
As the first half of 2009 comes to a close, the big question for tech companies is whether the recession will ease up enough to spur spending increases for IT by the end of the year. IT professionals spent years after the dot-com bust wringing every last excess penny out of old technology cost structures. Now, some of the more far-sighted IS managers have put in place plans to implement "transformational" IT projects involving virtualization and cloud computing, according to Bob Dvorak, senior vice president and general manager at Forsythe Technology. |
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Wall Street Beat: Mixed Signals Amid Hope for IT Recovery
New York Times 06.22.2009
Though some industry watchers are looking for a recovery in the second half of the year, IT vendors this week gave out mixed signals about prospects for sales, as Research In Motion (RIM) issued a tepid quarterly forecast, Progress Software and consumer electronics retailer Best Buy reported weak quarters, and MySpace announced staff cuts. Though many enterprises budgeted for 2 percent to 5 percent IT spending increases in 2009, these forecast increases have not translated into spending so far this year, according to Bob Dvorak, senior vice president and general manager at Forsythe Technology. But many large enterprises have spent the first half of 2009 working to improve the overall IT cost structure, completing projects including storage and desktop virtualization, cloud computing and the introduction of managed services. As the projects take effect, spending should rise in the second half of 2009, according to Dvorak. |
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The Virtues of Virtualization
Troy Media 06.06.2009
Virtualization technologies have graduated to the big time, but it didn’t happen overnight. While early virtualization application experiments can be traced back to the 1960s, it is only in the past decade that there has been growing acceptance of this cost-saving technology. Virtualization technologies have come a long way, James Geis, director of integrated solutions development at IT consulting firm Forsythe Solutions, says, because evaluating capacity was once difficult. But thanks to improved capacity management tools, that task has been simplified and has become a mainstream means for resource planning. |
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If Flu Threat Rises, CDC Wants Pandemic Coordinator at Work
WebWereld.nl 04.30.2009
Michael Croy, director of business continuity solutions at Forsythe Solutions Group Inc., an IT consulting firm in Skokie, Ill. said two-thirds of U.S. companies would need days or even weeks to recover from a significant business interruption, like one that could be caused by a pandemic. Disaster recovery and business continuity planning can be the difference between no disruption in operations and a company going out of business. According to Croy, 29% of U.S. businesses that suffer a major disaster fail within two to four months. Half of all U.S. companies have had to activate a disaster recovery plan at some point and 60% of midsize and large companies have experienced from one to 24 hours of unplanned down time, with an average cost per incident of US$3 million. |
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E-health Data Collection Key To Tracking Swine Flu Spread
ComputerWorld (also CIO, Infoworld, USA Today) 04.29.2009
Businesses need to take this serious and put plans in place for personnel," said Michael Croy, director of business continuity solutions at Forsythe Solutions Group Inc., an IT consulting firm in Skokie, Ill. "They need to make sure employees can work from home. They need to tell them about how to take care of their health and be overly cautious by telling workers to stay home if they feel sick. But they also need to do it in way so as not to create panic. |
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Powering Up in a Crisis
Processor 04.24.2009
Michael Croy, director of business continuity solutions for Forsythe Technology, says redundant power sources are a big step in the right direction for enterprises facing a data center crisis or disaster. Croy explains that locating a data center in an area with underground power vs. above ground or in an area with diverse power routing can make a difference. Also, during a crisis, running backup generators with enough power to manage critical business functions and ensuring that arrangements have been made to secure fuel for generators whenever a disaster occurs can save precious time. |
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Virtual Applications Achieve Results
PM Toolbox, Ganthead.com 04.13.2009
The Siemens survey evaluating virtualization technologies in overstressed data centers pointed out what companies already knew: Data-center servers are stressed to the max, and a viable solution is virtualization technologies. In the past, Forsythe Solutions’ James Geis has been more accurate than most IT pundits. The challenges that he sees are in a couple of problematic areas. The first is management. “I see this collision of server, storage and network into this virtual cloud,” he says. “Having multiple management tools--one for the network, another for the storage, and others for the physical and virtual servers--makes things messy. This whole space gets more complicated every year.” |
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16 Ways IT Can Do Less With Less
IT World Canada (also IT World) 03.16.2009
Tough times call for tough measures. Layoffs and cutbacks are rampant. Even if your IT budget is relatively stable, you will probably be asked to do more with less. For years, IT managers have been taught to think strategically and plan for the long term. But for many organizations, the future is now, says Joe Wolke, director of IT strategy at Forsythe Solutions Group. |
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16 Ways IT Can Do Less With Less
CIO (also Computerworld, InfoWorld, TMCnet.com) 03.16.2009
Tough times call for tough measures. Layoffs and cutbacks are rampant. Even if your IT budget is relatively stable, you will probably be asked to do more with less. For years, IT managers have been taught to think strategically and plan for the long term. But for many organizations, the future is now, says Joe Wolke, director of IT strategy at Forsythe Solutions Group. |
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Can Business Continuity Handle Unfettered Data Growth?
eWeek 03.10.2009
Analysts believe that following the current recession, an unprecedented period of data growth is going to occur beginning in 2011. Can today's BC products and services handle the coming deluge? Indications are that the technology can do the job, but will people be able to shoulder the load? Author/researcher Michael Croy of the Forsythe Solutions Group consultancy noted the following: Nearly one-third of current businesses that suffer a major IT disaster go out of business within two to four months. Two-thirds of mid- to large-sized companies have experienced from one to 24 hours of unplanned down time, with an average cost per incident of $3 million. |
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Luring Customers Back After Data Breaches
Data Center Management (also Information Today) 03.01.2009
TJX, Inc. stores recently offered customers a 15% discount during a 1-day sale designed to show appreciation to its customers after the breach on its computer systems 2 years ago. Dale Masi, advisory consultant with Forsythe Solutions Group, Skokie, 111., says that security breaches at companies such as Heartland and earlier ones at TJX and other firms happen because companies tend to use minimum acceptable security standards. |
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Forsythe Gets $97.5M Line Of Credit, Makes Growth Plans
ChannelWeb 02.20.2009
The Skokie, Ill.-based solution provider and IT infrastructure integrator this week unveiled the closing of a three-and-a-half-year revolving line of credit that will enable it to grow its business both organically and through possible acquisitions, said Michael Qualley, senior vice president of the company's Systems Solutions Group. |
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Antivirus Analysis How to Choose The Right Antivirus Tool
Processor 01.16.2009
To combat a Trojan horse, the Trojans had only one reasonable defense: Keep the massive wooden doors to Troy closed. But to combat Trojans and similar threats today, security personnel have a multitude of options, such that choosing the appropriate defense for a particular environment can be a delicate task. David Brown, managing consultant at Forsythe, says that choosing an antivirus solution is no different from any other major purchase. As a result, research is critical. |
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The Case for Enterprise Architects
CIO.com 01.15.2009
When technology infrastructure lines up with business projects like musicians in a marching band, you know you have a good enterprise architect on staff. But will you keep him when it’s time to start handing out pink slips? A CIO makes better use of an enterprise architect by having him or her focus on the technical viability of product solutions while determining their economic value to the business, says Ken Zivic, a consultant at Forsythe, a technology advisory firm. This will result in an improved IT ability to make better business decisions while considering benefits, risk and the effects of new technology implementations, he says. |
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What It Takes to Succeed Now as a CIO
CIO.com 01.01.2009
CIOs who underestimate the beastly U.S. economy and overestimate their own prowess risk losing their jobs in the coming year. “IT leaders struggle with marketing their value,” says Ken Zivic, a consultant at the IT advisory firm Forsythe. |
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